What follows is my current list of daily blogging priorities. This doesn’t take into account large-scale, ongoing projects such as blog redesigns, new site planning, and other longer term activities, but constitutes what I seek to achieve each day, based on my current situation.

1. Find and produce content

• Ensure all primary news feeds are performing and delivering via email / RSS / bookmarks.
• Flag and action incoming email particularly from trusted contacts e.g. PR contacts, other bloggers in niche.
• Write content:
  * Succinct: gets to the point, no waffle.
  * Accurate: all key facts stated, hearsay stated as such, opinions properly attributed.
  * Timely: break important news ASAP.
  * Informative: gives your readership what it needs to know, no less.
  * Entertaining: I’m blogging, not writing a research paper
• Ensure all external daily posting quotas are met – absolutely no question.
• Strive to meet all internal posting quotas / targets – these could slip if necessary.

2. Site maintenance

• Handle comment and trackback spam as efficiently as possible (preferably with advanced automated blog tools such as Akismet and Spam Karma)
• Read and respond to legitimate commenters as necessary.
• Check statistics, particularly (for maintenace) broken pages (404 errors), forbidden access (403 errors) and server errors (500 errors)

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Since 1996 I have believed that someday I would be able to make a full-time income by utilising the Internet. Here’s a brief timeline of events:

• 1996: Created a ‘fan’ website for the Spice Girls, a popular British girl band of the time. Ten years ago it took greater technical knowledge to build a web site, but seemed easier to achieve popularity.
• 1997: Let the site fall into disrepair due to time commitments, and a slight sense of embarrassment. Letting that site go is still one of my greatest online regrets as I believe it could have formed quite a springboard for other projects.
• 1998-2002: Became involved with some unfortunate MLM programs. I didn’t quite sell my soul to them, and fortunately didn’t lose too much money, but I was sucked in by the evangelistic nature of the guys near the top.
• 2003-4: Several attempts at creating a useful web site from my domain.
• 2004: Discovered blogging and started my first blog, a personal take on life and current events.

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I promised that I would share my ProBlogging earnings with you on a regular basis. Whilst I won’t give actual figures, you’ll be able to see trends and (hopefully) growth.

Below is the graph for July.

• In June I got paid a full wage from my previous employment.
• In July I got paid a portion of wage from my previous employment, plus a portion for my work at Shiny Media.
• August is a projection, and yes, you can see I’ve taken a pay cut of around 50%. Sometimes dreams require sacrifice.

Over the coming months, the line on the graph should climb as I am able to spend more time on my own projects. Watch this space.

Update: Please see Graphs & Statistics page for a better graph – well, different at least.

I’ve made it through day one, and I’m still standing.

What have I learnt from it?

1. There’s a huge difference between blogging in your spare time and when you feel like it, to blogging full-time and having quotas and deadlines to meet.
2. It will take some time to adjust to a new working environment and structure.
3. Distractions will come and they need to be dealt with swiftly.
4. There’s no shame in starting off slowly and ensuring that systems and methods are in place, even if it means that you couldn’t get all the ‘extras’ done – that will come.
5. Time vanishes. It just goes. You’re up early and working, and before you know it, it’s early evening.
6. Don’t jump at every email. Use filters, colours or alerts to know what’s really important (like breaking news) and what can wait. Poor email management slows down your work rate.
7. Planning is key: get systems in place early then tune them to meet your needs. Learn to be a good administrator.

I had hoped to get more done in less time yesterday, but the phrase “don’t run before you can walk” seems apt here.

Despite my knowledge of the Net and blogging, I am still on a tremendous learning curve. I completed everything I needed to yesterday, without falling into a blubbering heap on the floor come the evening.

Most importantly: no regrets. I’m doing the right thing and it will only get better.

What tips would you give a new ProBlogger?

Good morning all!

This is my first official post as a ProBlogger. If the term “ProBlogger” makes your eyes glaze over, or you think of teenagers on MySpace talking about their flaky relationships, then instead I’ll call myself a freelance writer.

Some have called me a journalist… we’ll have that debate another time.

Despite the picture of the coffee beans (courtesy of my colleagues at the British Heart Foundation, thanks guys) I am feeling very much awake and ready to go this morning.

It’s a great day here in the south-western suburbs of London. It’s going to be another scorcher, but that’s OK – the laptop is charged up and I can move into the garden and work wirelessly as and when I need to. Oh, not to be stuck in a central London office…

For any new visitors (particularly old work colleagues) who wonder what on earth this is all about, and if I really have gone just a little crazy, I’ll quickly summarise what I’m doing and how I intend to survive. If you’re really interested, stick around, join my email newsletter, add me to your feed reader (you what?), and come along on the journey.

Heh, maybe you’ll decide to go freelance yourself – but that’s a whole new conversation.

Here’s a potted history:

• I’m nearly 32, so have 14 years of employment history behind me.
• I’ve wanted to earn a living using the Internet as a primary tool for at least 10 years.
• I’ve a wide experience of Internet technology, programming, and design (though it’s not always been put to best use)
• I’ve been pestering the guys over at Shiny Media for some freelancing experience, and a couple of months ago I landed an editorial role at HDTVUK.tv.
• Since then, I’ve been able to juggle finances (with help from my wife) and budget to be able to afford to give up full-time employment and take on more work with Shiny Media.
• I will be working a combination of roles, including two or three blogs at Shiny, two of my existing sites, owning and overseeing the Blue Fish Network (my fledgling online network), and generally trying to be entrepreneurial and develop new ideas, partnerships, and money.

So there you go. Only time will tell whether my determination and hard work will pay off – both financially and for job satisfaction. I’m expecting it to. You can watch and see if it does.

The past four weeks have been quite tough, as the transition from full-time employment supplemented by minimal blogging becomes full-time freelance professional blogging.

This weekend I stand on the borderline.

Behind me stands the tower of paid employment and bosses that have sustained my first 14 years of adult life.

Ahead is uncharted, exciting territory. The freelance route. The self-drive vehicle.

I had my leaving party on Friday evening. There was an element of sadness at leaving people, of course, but I won’t be upset to leave certain political aspects behind.

This weekend has been a relaxiing one, filled with leisurely breakfasts, TV watching, and general mental preparation for the task ahead.

The real work starts tomorrow. Watch this space.

I have decided to start up an email newsletter, appropriately titled “Andy Merrett ProBlogger“, which will be used as another way to communicate news, income, projects, hints and tips, motivational stories, and other assorted things related to me and/or ProBlogging.

I’m using Zookoda, the service that Darren Rowse seems to use successfully. It takes the hassle out of the issues associated with running a subscribable newsletter: opt-ins, bounces, server management, and so on, and should allow me to get on with the really important issues like content and project management.

If you’re not already supping your content through RSS or directly from the website – or even if you are – and would like another piece of email to arrive (roughly) weekly, then please sign up using the form at the top of my sidebar.